NZPT Season 2 News

Grigg Grabs Lead In Auckland - posted 17.09.10

Tom Grigg was a force to be reckoned with on Day 2 of the Auckland Main Event.

The Melbourne, Australia resident stacked up a field-leading 546,300 in chips by the end of the night; more than double his next-closest opponent, PokerStars qualifier Santi Soriano Ramos from Spain (265,300).

Day 2 began with 96 players, each vying for a piece of the NZD $654,000 (approx. $473,000 USD) prizepool. Of those, just 28 survived, each earning a ticket in tomorrow's money round.

The top 24 finishers in the Auckland Main Event are scheduled to be paid.

The second and final Day 1 flight of the Auckland Main Event played out Thursday in Auckland's SKYCITY Casino and Nauv Kashyap finished the day a top the leaderboard with 99,075 in chips.

Kashyap took down a Main Event last month, banking an AUD $182,965 payday. He'll be second in chips heading into Day 2 and poised to make a serious run at back-to-back final tables in the region.

Day 1b attracted 129 contestants, bringing the Main Event grand total to 218, creating a prizepool of NZD $654,000 (approx. $473,000 USD). A total of 28 countries were represented across five continents.

New Zealand boasted the most entrants with 106 (approximately 49% of the field). Australia yielded the second-most with 53.
Of the 129 Day 1b starters, only 55 survived, bringing the combined end of Day 1 total to 96.

Australia was represented by Tony Hachem and SKYCITY Poker Ambassador Lee Nelson. Hachem hit the rail about midway through the day, while Nelson managed to find his stride late in the day, bagging 39,625 at the end of the night.

Vogelman nabs early lead in Auckland – posted 15.09.10

Day 1a of the NZPT Auckland Main Event belonged to Noah Vogelman. The young American was the only player to finish the day with a six-figure chip stack, reporting 128,275 in chips at day's end.

The next-largest stack belongs to local New Zealander John Harman (94,300).

Of the 89 players who helped us kick of the NZPT Auckland Main Event, only 41 reached the bag-and-tag portion of the night; less than half the starting field.

Among those who survived were New Zealand hip-hop pioneer Danny 'Brotha D' Leaoasavaii (23,675), Aussie pros Julian Cohen (22,175) and Tom Grigg (16,400), Macau Champion Victorino Torres (12,125) and the third place finisher from that same event, Cole Swannack (26,350).

Julian Cohen wins NZPT Queenstown – posted 25.07.10

All 15 players returned today assured of a minimum $4,690 payout and after just under two hours of play we reached our final table of nine.

The final table featured Bryan Huang, fresh from his runner up finish in the Red Dragon Main Event at the Macau Poker Cup only two weeks ago, poker champion, Jason Gray, and runner up from the same event John Maklouf who amazingly has reached three consecutive final tables, and the overnight chip leader Vesko Zmukic, who increased his chip stack to 575,000 as we started the final table.

Emerson Rewi was the best placed New Zealander in 6th place as we moved relatively quickly down to four players. These four Australian players fought it out for another two hours before Michael Spilkin was eliminated, followed soon after by Vesko for his second third placing this season. This left two of the "younger brigade", Julian Cohen from Melbourne Australia and Andrew Watson from Woolongong Australia to fight it out for the trophy.

After a "seesawing" 30 minutes of Heads Up, Julian triumphed to take home the title of NZPT Queenstown Champion.

NZPT Queenstown - the bubble bursts - posted 24.07.10

50 players hit the felt today with the expectation of a fairly long day to make the money, however, the bubble was burst well before the scheduled dinner break - in fact it took only 6 hours of play to reach the money.

In an action packed day, Lee "Final Table" Nelson fell just short of the money in 17th place.

A high quality final table is expected for this event with players still in the hunt including:
Bryan Huang (226,200);
Jason Gray(122,400) ; and
- John Maklouf (74,100), who will be looking to reach an unprecedented win.

The chip leader going into Day 4 is Vesko Zmukic, holding a massive 479,000. Vesko came 3rd in NZPT Perth.

The race for **Player of the Year** is really hotting up with Andrew Scarf & John Maklouf, third and fourth respectively, guaranteed a minimum 26 bonus points. If either player finishes in the top two they will take the lead from Tony Hachem.

Tomorrow the action will be underway at 12.15pm Queenstown time as we play down to decide who will be the NZPT Queenstown Champion.

NZPT Queenstown Nelson Emerges at the End Of Day 2 – posted 23.07.10

There was exactly 3 hours and 35 minutes of play today to enable the 15 players who made it through to Day 3 from Auckland last weekend to merge with the 35 players who have made it through Day 2 here at SkyCity Queenstown Casino.

Lee "Final Table" Nelson, a very experienced poker player and co-host of Joker Poker in New Zealand, who was down to 3,500 during the last level of play yesterday, continued the late surge yesterday through today's play and finished with a very healthy 115,600.

In fact, Lee was overall chip leader out of all today's players until the very last hand of the day today, which was a huge pot involving Julian Cohen and John Apostolidis.

A total field of 119 players turned out for NZPT Queenstwon – a new record for the South Island of New Zealand – and where the top prize stands at NZD $73,000.

A total of 15 places will pay out a minimum of NZD$4,690.

Back to today's action and a total of 43 players turned out for Day 1b of NZPT Queenstown including poker professional Tony Hachem .

Players out in force today hailed from countries as far flung as Korea, Macau, Spain and Russia and making this event a true international tournament.

Play closed with Jackson Zheng from New Zealand as chip leader with 74,075 chips.

Zheng joins the 32 survivors of Day 1b that go on to Day 2 in third place. However, his performance wasn't enough to knock yesterday's chip leader Michael Spilkin (103,925) off the top spot or yesterday's second place holder Mishel Anunu (78,450).

38 players negotiate marathon Day 1a in Queenstown – posted 21.07.10

Day 1a of Queenstown closed at a little after Wednesday morning with 24 players remaining from a starting field of 38.

The card room was packed to the rafters as play began at 12:15 in the afternoon, and after a steady stream of eliminations throughout the day, we now have the names of the competitors who go through to Day 2.

Chip leader after the opening day's play is Michael Spilkin with 103,925, closely followed by Mishel Anunu who has 78,450, Koray Turker well positioned in third place with 55,350.

Another 40 or so fresh-faced players will convene at 12:15 tomorrow for Day 1b, in what is shaping up to be another momentous day of poker.

The prize pool looks set be huge, and Queenstown is certain to post some strong numbers for this tour.

Field of 38 hit NZPT Queenstown on Day 1a – posted 21.07.10

The Main Event of NZPT Queenstown kicked off today with 38 players in the running.

Poker Legend Lee Nelson is amongst the field along with poker pro Aaron Benton.

The field is made up of a largely Australian contingent, although the international scene is represented with players from the US and UK.

Players have until tomorrow (Day1b) to enter NZPT Queenstown and can buy in directly to the event.

Already through to Day 3 of the Main Event are 15 qualifiers who won their seats at a live Auckland event.

Canadian qualifier Yannick Frenette stands as the chip leader with 167,700 chips.

A total of 15 players who survived the qualifying round in Auckland will be among those taking their seats at Day 3 of NZPT Queenstown which begins next week.

Day 2 saw 24 players return to the felt to battle it out for a place in next week's NZPT tournament. Day 1a of NZPT Queenstown begins Wednesday July 21, however today's survivors qualify directly through to Day 3 which takes place on Saturday July 24.

Out in front is Canadian qualifier Yannick Frenette, the chip leader, with 167,700 chips to his name. Frenette pips yesterday's chip leader New Zealander Tim Macbeth, who managed to improve his stack to take second place on 77,900.

NZPT has released the Queenstown schedule and it will be an all New Zealand event with a special Auckland portion of the tournament, where winners will qualify through to the final stages of Queenstown with travel expenses and accommodation included.

SKYCITY Auckland General Manager Casino Operations Ejaaz Dean says "SKYCITY New Zealand Casinos will provide all New Zealanders throughout the North and South Islands with the opportunity to make it to NZPT Queenstown. And to overseas players contemplating making the trip to Queenstown, it is rated as the number 1 tourist destination in New Zealand and will not disappoint."

NZPT Queenstown dates are July 20 to 25 while the Auckland "qualifier" will be held on the weekend of July 17 and 18. Please click here for more information.